Pocahontas

Release Date: June 16, 1995

Watch Date: March 25, 2023

 

    Pocahontas gets a bad wrap. It was a huge financial sink for Disney that did not get the returns it was expected to. A lot of people have an issue because they took a real life historical woman who had a hard life and was treated and used poorly by people who didn’t understand her culture, and turned it into a fairy tale, where she falls in love with a man who in actuality was kind of a terrible person and much older than her at the time of their meeting. And look, I see why people have difficulty with it. But this movie is ‘based’ on a person in the same way that Davy Crockett was ‘based’ on a person, and I don’t see anyone complaining about the fact that Davy Crockett didn’t fight river pirates.

    But Pocahontas was real, and John Smith was real, and Governor Ratcliffe was real and probably not as terrible as this movie makes him out to be – though he did make some terrible decisions and was probably murdered by the local indigenous population, and he and John Smith really didn’t see eye to eye. So you’re allowed to be upset. You should look up the real history of these people, and you should see what really happened, because this movie could not be further from the truth or their real experiences. But it is a fairytale, it a condensed, simplified, romanticized version of history for children. You have to be able to separate the two.

    So, in separating the two I will admit that Pocahontas is probably one of my favourite Disney princesses, and that this movie had a massive effect on me growing up. John Smith was my first love, and I was absolutely going to marry him, every man I had a crush on until I actually started dating was compared in some way to John Smith, and so he has now become Bob’s number one least favourite Disney character of all time. Other than Ratcliffe, Bob might be the only person who rooted for John Smith’s death. I have always said that you can trace my traits to the Disney princess films I watched over and over again, from Belle my love of reading, from Ariel my adoration for the ocean and water, and from Pocahontas my love of nature, my spiritual side, my ability to believe in something greater, in a connectivity of the universe. And so, I can’t think bad things about this film. I will admit that I am biased, and I am not ashamed of it.

    The songs are beautiful. For all the hate that Pocahontas gets ‘Just Around the Riverbend’ and ‘Colors of the Wind’ are two of Disney’s most popular songs. ‘Mine, Mine, Mine’ was sung by my father every single time he vacuumed, for reasons I can’t exactly explain, and as such has become ingrained in me as one of the most underrated Disney villain songs of all time. ‘Savages’ is a wonderful depiction of how their is racism in everyone’s story, and yes, the colonists were the worst offenders here, but everyone on the planet sees themselves and their family, their nation, their people, as a tribe, and everyone else as others. It’s something that we, as humans, need to learn to move past, and something I think the majority of the population is working on. Hopefully.

    I have always loved art style, I think it’s gorgeous, and unique. I think the watercolor wind is iconic, and I defy anyone to tell me otherwise. The sidekick animals on both sides are funny, and I’m glad they don’t talk. Meeko is, as Bob very eagerly pointed out, probably the reason I love raccoons so much. I think racoons are just worthy of love, they’re adorable little trash pandas, and they’re smart and cute, and I want one as a pet so bad and if he loved me, truly loved me, he’d figure out how to make that work.

    I digress.

    Don’t judge a book by it’s cover, and don’t judge a fairytale by it’s historical inaccuracies. Pocahontas deserves to have her story told, and it is my hope that one day an accurate retelling of her life will make it to film. This is not that story. Take it for what it is, and use it as a stepping stone to look into the real history of Jamestown, Virginia, the real colonists and indigenous peoples who lived there, who interacted with one another, and who helped lay the foundation for what America would come to be. It is not always a pretty story with a helpful willow tree as your guide, but it’s worth learning.